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The next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-20373, in the name of Martin Whitfield, on behalf of the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee, on standing order rule changes—lodging deadlines for public bills.
17:09
Presiding Officer, this is a fine way to finish our formal chamber business after a long day.
I thank Ruth Maguire, deputy convener of the SPPA Committee, for supporting the motion.
The motion is about the SPPA Committee’s first report this year—I assure Parliament that it will not be the last—which recommends standing order rule changes. The report recommends a temporary rule change on the deadline for lodging stage 2 and stage 3 amendments to public bills. It follows the committee’s consideration of a letter from the Presiding Officer, on behalf of the Parliamentary Bureau, proposing that we consider an earlier deadline on days before the final lodging day for amendments. We support the proposed change and recommend that the deadline be altered from 4.30 pm to 2.30 pm on any day when an amendment may be lodged, but excluding the final day. We propose that the change should apply to the daily deadline in relation to stage 2, stage 3, reconsideration stage and the budget bill.
The change will enable the legislation clerks to prepare the daily list at an earlier point in the day and, consequently, it will lead to the daily list being circulated to members earlier than is the case at present. Any amendment that is lodged after the deadline will appear on the next day’s daily list. I am keen to emphasise that, as the deadline on the final day for lodging amendments will remain at 12 noon, the overall time that is available for members to lodge amendments will not change.
As the bureau suggested, the committee is recommending that a temporary rule be in place until the end of 2026.
As the member knows, I am interested in innovation in the way that we do things in this place. With just a few weeks left in the current session, I wonder whether the committee might be minded to consider other temporary changes to the rules, so that we can experiment with how we can improve the processes and procedures of this Parliament.
I am grateful to the member for his intervention. We are always curious, inquisitive and iterative as regards changes that can improve the functioning of the Scottish Parliament. The member is aware of this, but I reiterate that the offer is always open to members to write to the committee with proposals, which we will consider before responding accordingly.
The bureau suggested that the temporary rule change should apply until the end of 2026, and the committee recommends that. The reason is that, as Stephen Kerr said in his intervention, we are coming to the end of the current session of Parliament and a new session will start in the near future. We believe that the rule change should be subject to interim review at the end of the current session and again at the end of 2026. We support the operation of the temporary rule being reviewed at those two points. We consider that the bureau will be best placed to undertake the interim review at the end of the session, and I look forward to the committee that will follow mine receiving a note on that. The motion proposes that the change take effect from next Monday, 19 January.
I move,
That the Parliament notes the Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee’s 1st Report, 2026 (Session 6), Standing Order Rule changes – lodging deadlines for public bills (SP Paper 954), and agrees that the temporary rule change to Standing Orders set out in Annexe B of the report be made with effect from 19 January 2026.
That concludes the debate on standing order rule changes—lodging deadlines for public bills.